Cost-Burdened Renters Reach Record Numbers

Highlighting the growing imbalance between rising rents and stagnant wages, Harvard University reported Wednesday that the number of cost-burdened renters in the U.S. has reached an all-time high.Personal finance experts generally recommend budgeting around 30% of monthly income to cover housing ...

By Matthew Heller • June 22, 2016

Rio Gets $849 Million Pre-Olympics Bailout

The Brazilian government is providing the financially embattled state of Rio de Janeiro with an $849 million bailout just weeks before the Olympic Games begin.Rio’s governor had declared a “public calamity” last week as a result of its deteriorating finances, which have been hit by a decline in o...

By Matthew Heller • June 22, 2016

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Tax policy shifts: What CFOs need to know to stay ahead

Discover how evolving tax policies are creating new opportunities and challenges for CFOs.

By CFO.com staff

IMF Sees Brexit Having Negative Economic Effect

If Britain votes this week to leave the European Union, the economic effects on the country would likely be “negative and substantial,” the International Monetary Fund warns in a new report.With financial markets around the world on edge ahead of the June 23 referendum, a poll for the Sunday Time...

By Matthew Heller • June 20, 2016

U.S. Housing Starts Fall 0.3% After April Surge

U.S. housing starts fell slightly in May but the pace of home building remains well ahead of last year amid steady demand from buyers.Groundbreaking declined 0.3% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,164,000 starts, the Commerce Department said Friday, with a 0.3% increase in single-family h...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • June 17, 2016

CFOs on the Move: Week Ending June 17

Nasdaq has appointed Michael Ptasznik to head finance, effective July 11. Ptasznik, who takes over for interim CFO Ronald Hassen, has been finance chief at TMX Group since 2002.David Bullwinkle, CFO, Eastman Kodak David Bullwinkle has been promoted to the top finance spot at Eastman Kodak, effect...

By Joan Urdang • June 17, 2016

Retail Sales Show Another Strong Gain in May

U.S. retail sales had another strong month in May, avoiding a slowdown from April’s surge as categories including cars, clothing, and online retail posted solid gains.The Commerce Department said retail sales increased 0.5% last month after gaining 1.3% in April. Economists had been expecting gro...

By Matthew Heller • June 16, 2016

Zenefits to Make Second Round of Job Cuts

Struggling human resources software startup Zenefits is making a second round of job cuts as it seeks to recover from a scandal over its broker training and compliance processes.The layoffs of more than 100 staff, or about 9% of its workforce, are part of a restructuring that also includes shutti...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • June 15, 2016

Industrial Production Remains ‘Tepid’ in May

U.S. industrial production fell more than expected in May as even the weakening of the dollar and a rally in oil prices apparently weren’t enough to give the nation’s factories a jolt.Output decreased 0.4% last month after increasing a downwardly revised 0.6% in April, the Federal Reserve said We...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • June 15, 2016

IMF Warns of China Corporate Debt Dangers

Rising corporate debt is “a key fault line” in the Chinese economy that the country must tackle soon, a top International Monetary Fund official warned Monday.Corporate debt represents about 145% percent of China’s gross domestic product, which is “very high by any measure,” first deputy managing...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • June 13, 2016

House: Puerto Rico Rescue Not a Bailout

The U.S. House of Representatives has overwhelmingly passed a bill to help Puerto Rico dig out of its financial mess.H.R. 5278, termed the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act or PROMESA (the Spanish word for “promise”), would create a financial oversight board with the au...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • June 10, 2016

Oppenheimer Fined $3M Over ETF Sales

Oppenheimer & Co. has agreed to pay $3 million to settle charges alleging improper sales of about $1.7 billion in non-traditional exchange-traded funds to retail investors.The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority on Wednesday said the money manager executed more than 30,000 transactions be...

By Matthew Heller • June 8, 2016

The Business of Politics

According to the most recent Duke University/CFO Magazine Global Business Outlook survey, nearly half (47%) of United States firms are pulling back on either hiring or spending plans due to political uncertainty, fueled by the upcoming election and continuing Washington dysfunction.In the context...

By CFO Editorial Staff • June 8, 2016

U.S. Trade Deficit Widens 5.3% in April

The U.S. trade deficit widened in April but the increase was less than economists expected and exports of goods improved as the dollar’s rally eased.The Commerce Department said the goods and services deficit rose 5.3% to $37.4 billion in April, as exports rose 1.5% to $182.8 billion, while impor...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • June 6, 2016

U.S. Job Gains Lowest Since September 2010

U.S. Federal Reserve officials’ decision whether to raise interest rates again this month just got tougher with news of the weakest job gains since September 2010.The unemployment rate fell by 0.3 percentage point to 4.7% in May, and nonfarm employers added just 38,000 workers, the Labor Departme...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • June 3, 2016

Global Economy Stuck in Low-Growth Trap: OECD

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has downgraded its forecast for economic growth, saying the global economy is stuck in a “low-growth trap” that governments urgently need to address through comprehensive national fiscal initiatives.In its latest Global Economic Outlook, t...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • June 2, 2016

Productive Idea: A Five-Hour Workday?

It’s been just over 100 years since Henry Ford ignited a labor revolution — and throttled up his company’s productivity — by, in part, introducing the eight-hour workday to his some 14,000 employees.Now, a much-smaller enterprise is borrowing a page from that history.One year ago today, during a ...

By David McCann • June 1, 2016

U.S. Economic Growth Revised Upward to 0.8%

The U.S. economy’s growth in the first quarter was not as slow as originally estimated, with a strong housing market helping to offset tepid business investment.The Commerce Department on Friday reported that GDP grew at an annual rate of 0.8%. Despite the upward revision from the government’s ea...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • May 30, 2016

U.S. Household Finances Show Modest Uptick

The financial well-being of U.S. households continued a modest improvement last year but even a small-scale financial disruption could be tough for nearly half of them to handle, according to a Federal Reserve survey.More than two-thirds (69%) of respondents to the Fed’s 2015 Survey of Household ...

By Matthew Heller • May 26, 2016

GE Backs Saudi Efforts to Diversify Economy

General Electric is investing at least $1.4 billion in a number of industrial ventures in Saudi Arabia as the kingdom tries to reduce its dependence on oil production.The company said it was collaborating with Saudi Arabian Industrial Investments Co. and other entities to support Saudi Arabia’s e...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • May 23, 2016

Metric of the Month: Sales Forecast Errors

There’s an unmistakable buzz in the business community today about big data and business analytics and how the two of them can be used to help marketing people destroy the competition and score big revenue gains. So where does finance come in? Is the financial planning and analysis (FP&A) exp...

By Mary C. Driscoll • May 17, 2016

U.S. Producer Prices Edge Up 0.2% in April

Prices on U.S. goods and services rose slightly in April, the first increase since January and a possible sign that inflation is firming.The Producer Price Index for final demand increased a seasonally adjusted 0.2% last month, the Labor Department said Friday. Economists surveyed by The Wall Str...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • May 13, 2016

Top 10 Bad Management Behaviors

Admittedly, when one reflects on the most significant bad management behavior, thoughts of Enron, WorldCom, and Tyco come to mind. And rightfully so: that list is full of criminal behavior that should absolutely be avoided. But there is another list of very undesirable managerial actions that don...

By Gregory V. Milano • May 11, 2016

U.S. Consumers Expect 2.6% Rise in Inflation

U.S. consumers’ expectations for inflation edged higher last month, again clearing the target the U.S. Federal Reserve has set as a guide for its monetary policy.Consumers polled for the New York Fed’s latest Survey of Consumer Expectations on average expect prices to rise 2.6% over the next year...

By Matthew Heller • May 9, 2016

U.S. Job Gains Fall to Lowest Level in 7 Months

U.S. job growth slowed sharply in April as employers apparently reacted to the sluggish economy by adding the fewest jobs since September.Nonfarm payrolls rose last month by a seasonally adjusted 160,000 — below analysts’ expectations and well off the 208,000 net new jobs added in March — the Lab...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • May 9, 2016

U.S. Productivity Weakness Continues in Q1

The productivity of U.S. workers dipped again in the first quarter, possibly reflecting the influx of new hires as companies built up their workforces in the wake of the recession.Nonfarm business sector labor productivity,  as measured by the average worker’s output per hour, decreased at a 1% s...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • May 4, 2016